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What are Battlemaps? Pen & Paper can, as the name already suggests, be played with just paper and pencil. This is also successfully practiced in many systems and gaming groups. The Dungeon Master describes the situation and the players say how their characters react to it. Often you roll dice to determine the outcome. In this Theater of the Mind lies a large part of the appeal of Pen & Paper. You create shared adventures that you imagine and can influence the course of the story with actions and dice results. Some would claim that Theater of the Mind is the purest form of roleplaying.
However, many gaming groups are pleased when they have materials that help them visualize the events of the game. This way everyone at the table has a better understanding of what’s happening and player engagement is greater. Pen & Paper Maps can help with this. Or so-called Battlemaps.
What are Battlemaps? Simply Explained
Battlemaps allow the Dungeon Master to represent the spatial relationships of a scene. Especially in combat situations in games like Dungeons and Dragons or Shadowrun, it’s advantageous to see where the enemies are standing and how far away they are. I’ve learned that a proper Battlemap makes gameplay flow faster. Most Battlemaps are designed as a top-down view of the action. So in 2D, the positions of the players, enemies, and environment are displayed. But there are also great 3D-Battlemaps or animated Battlemaps. Some gaming groups have entire model landscapes for this purpose.
Here every Dungeon Master can decide for themselves how fancy they want to make their battles. It’s also a question of time and money. Miniatures are expensive and sometimes as a Dungeon Master you don’t have the time to assemble model kits or develop fancy maps. Even lines on paper are usually enough to provide a rough representation of events.
Important for most systems is that the Battlemap has a grid. This grid helps measure what range movement actions or combat effects have. Additionally, a grid defines the scale of the map.
Where do I find Maps?
You must consider that the requirements for getting Battlemaps differ depending on whether you play online or offline.
Where do I find offline Battlemaps?
Offline I’ve experienced that a simply drawn map usually suffices completely. Often we’ve just used dice or Sorry game pieces to represent characters and monsters. If you want your Battlemap to scale, you can go to a print shop and have a large map printed out. Or you can build a miniature diorama for combat. This can work especially well if you have figures from tabletop systems like Warhammer lying around.
There are also entire books with maps that you can buy. Tactical Maps 🛒 is an official book published by Wizards of the Coast that contains many maps. But there are also many similar offerings from other game systems or private individuals to be found.
Where do I find online Battlemaps?
For gaming groups that play online, over Discord or Roll20, it’s usually easier to find a suitable Battlemap. Google search is your best friend here. Just search for the location of the conflict and add “battlemap”: “western town battlemap”; or “fantasy harbor battlemap”. It can help to search in English. The selection is usually larger there. Sometimes you also have to specify the system or genre to find a suitable Battlemap: “battlemap science fiction” or “train station battlemap shadowrun”. You’ll rarely find exactly what you imagined, but usually there’s something that’s similar enough.
Another possibility is the subreddit: /r/battlemaps. Here you’ll find hundreds of Battlemaps for all genres, systems, and scales. It’s also a great source of inspiration when you don’t have an idea for what battlefield you want the next session to take place on. I myself have found numerous Battlemaps here that I later used in my games.
These are the Pros and Cons
Every Pen-&-Paper player will have their own opinion on whether it makes sense to use Battlemaps or not. Personally, I’m a big fan of them, as long as my players’ expectations aren’t too high. Nevertheless, I’ve listed the pros and cons here again.
Advantages of Battlemaps
- Battlemaps help players visualize what’s happening.
- Battlemaps make gameplay flow smoother and reduce follow-up questions.
- Battlemaps can make combat more strategic.
- When you put a lot of work into the Battlemap, it helps players with immersion in the story.
- Combat feels more diverse since it happens in different, visually distinct locations.
Disadvantages of Battlemaps
- Battlemaps require additional preparation time.
- Good Battlemaps are expensive.
- If players make certain decisions, it’s possible that the prepared Battlemaps will never be used and the work was for nothing.
- Battlemaps can also harm player immersion when they’re suddenly no longer fighting a spaceship, but a hole puncher.
Image sources: dysonlogos.com / pexels.com (Varan NM)
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